OK, for clarification I pulled together the following information from various sources, specifically:
http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30527.pdf ;
USCIS - Civics Flash Cards ;
The Heritage guide to the Constitution - Google Books ; and
United States nationality law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Different rules apply for persons born abroad to one U.S. citizen before November 14, 1986. United States law on this subject changed multiple times throughout the twentieth century, and
the law is applicable as it existed at the time of the individual's birth.
For persons born between December 24, 1952 and November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true:
One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person in question was born
The citizen parent lived at least ten years in the United States before the child's birth;
A minimum of 5 of these 10 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.
An April 2000 CRS report by the Congressional Research Service, asserts that most constitutional scholars interpret the phrase "natural born citizen" as including citizens born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens under the natural born requirement.
A distinct minority view is that "natural born citizen" requires two citizen-parents. This view is based on the works of
Emerich de Vattel, specifically his "Law of Nations," which, among other things, expressed the international law view that citizenship followed the doctrine of
Jus sanguinis - that the citizenship of the child was determined by that of its parents. While Vattel was influential in his views of the relations of nation-states in international law,
there is no evidence that his views on citizenship were influential to the founders.
Chester Arthur (born of an American mother and Irish father, purported birthplace of Canada) was sworn in as President, however his status as a "Natural born citizen" was challenged because he was born with British citizenship (therefore
not jus sanguinus) and it is contended, on foreign soil (therefore not jus soli). Some argue that those born abroad to U.S. citizens are not eligible to ascend to the Presidency (not jus soli), since an act of the United States Congress such as the Naturalization Act may not overrule the Constitution (see "Natural born citizen" as presidential qualification).
Presidential candidates
George W. Romney (born in Mexico),
Barry Goldwater and
John McCain (
born in U.S. territories), were never seriously challenged on the basis of their "natural born" citizenship, but no candidate falling under this classification has ever actually become President.
Basically, it doesn't matter whether Obama was born in Hawaii or Africa or on the Moon! His mother was a "citizen" born in the USA who lived more than ten years in the USA after her birth. She also lived more than five years in the USA after his birth. If she happened to die during her first five years back in the USA, Obama would still satisfy the requirements currently recognized to be a citizen of the USA to be President. For further reading go to:
Acquisition of U.S. Citizenship by a Child Born Abroad
But, of course, none of this matters to birthers. Primarily, because they're as dumb as Play Dough and just as easily manipulated. And as we've discovered from reading their posts on LPSG, the majority of them are definitely not smarter than a Fifth Grader.
I'm less concerned about "Where's the Birth Certificate?" than I am regarding "
Where's Your High School Diploma and Did You Pass a Civics Class?"
{/QUOTE}
